This application describes new and unique methods using the latest design of anti-ballistic protection available in the construction of a wide variety of furniture. Presently these materials are fabricated using not only Aramid fibers and KEVLAR® from DuPont, but also polyethylene fibers and GOLD SHIELD®, which is a KEVLAR® based material, and SPECTRA SHIELD®, which is a polyethylene based material, both available commercially from Honeywell. GOLD SHIELD® and SPECTRA SHIELD® are high strength synthetic fibers impregnated in partially cured resin for use in anti-ballistic material. Moreover, both of the Honeywell materials can be used as layered soft armor as well as in hard armor when they are autoclaved or compression molded into anti-ballistic components for construction of the anti-ballistic furniture, as shown and described. Other similar materials of like purpose and function are also anticipated by this disclosure.
Bullet proofing is the process of making something capable of stopping a bullet or similar high velocity projectiles e.g. shrapnel. The term bullet resistance is often preferred because few, if any, practical materials provide complete protection against all types of bullets, or multiple hits in the same location. Bullet designs vary widely, not only according to the particular firearm used (e.g. a 9×19 mm Parabellum caliber hollowpoint handgun cartridge will have inferior penetration power compared to a 7.62×39 mm assault rifle cartridge), but also within individual cartridge designs. As a result, whilst so-called “bullet-proof” panels may successfully prevent penetration by standard 7.62×39 mm bullets containing lead cores, the same panels may easily be defeated by 7.62×39 mm armor piercing bullets containing hardened steel penetrators.
Bullet-resistant materials, also called ballistic materials or, equivalently, anti-ballistic materials, are usually rigid, but may be supple. They may be complex, such as KEVLAR®, LEXAN®, and carbon fiber composite materials, or they may be basic and simple, such as steel or titanium. Bullet resistant materials are often used in law enforcement and military applications, to protect personnel from death or serious injuries.
With the advent of new materials and the improvement of manufacturing processes, items like ballistic-proof and/or ballistic-resistant furniture can become a practical item. It is well known that the construction of bullet-proof vests is done by applying multiple layers of fabric woven from an Aramid fiber together, which is sold by Du Pont under the Trade Mark KEVLAR, and has been done for many years. It can be used in a flexible state or laminated in a more rigid configuration. The success of the product is attained by multiple layers of the semi-impregnable flexible structure. This material combines high penetration resistance with lightness and flexibility but until presently no one has endeavored to manufacture items like furniture of this material.
There is a growing need for methods of self protection in an increasingly wide variety of locations. In the modern world, crimes and attacks committed by persons with guns are an ever more common occurrence. In the past, police personnel and military personnel have been the primary targets of gunfire which has been directed toward them during work or duty. Because of this continual risk of harm, bullet resistant vests and shields have been developed which may be deployed or worn on the user's body as a protective component of their work attire. Such devices, when employed for protection against weapons fire have worked fairly well in preventing a high velocity bullet or shell from penetrating the wearer's body since the velocity is slowed considerably. But increasingly, civilians are a target for shooting attacks.
Mass shootings receive a great deal of coverage in the media, as we saw with the Orlando, Fla., office shootings in November 2009 and in the shootings at the manufacturing plant in Albuquerque, N. Mex., in July 2010. Out of 421 workplace shootings recorded in 2008 (8% of total fatal injuries), 99 (24%) occurred in retail trade. Workplace shootings in manufacturing were less common, with 17 shootings reported in 2008. Workplace shooting events account for only a small portion of nonfatal workplace injuries. Over the past 5 years, 2004-08, an average of 564 work-related homicides occurred each year in the United States. In 2008, a total of 526 workplace homicides occurred, or 10 percent of all fatal work injuries. About 4 out of every 5 homicide victims in 2008 were male. The type of assailants in these cases differed for men and women. Robbers and other assailants made up to 72% of assailants for men, and 51% of assailants for women. Relatives and other personal acquaintances accounts for only 4% of assailants of homicides for men, but 28% for women. In 2008 there were 30 multiple-fatality workplace homicide incidents, accounting for 67 homicides and 7 suicides. On Average, about two people died in each of these incidents. Shootings accounted for 80 percent of all homicides in 2008 (421 fatal injuries). Co-workers and former co-workers were the assailants in 12% of all shootings. Robbers were the assailants in another 40% of cases in 2008 (421 fatal injuries) occurred in public buildings, thereby endangering bystanders. Sales and related occupations accounted for 26% of decedents in shootings. Most shootings occurred in the private sector (86%) whereas 14% of shootings occurred in government, and of the shootings within the private sector, 88% occurred within service-providing industries, mostly in trade, transportation, and utilities.
A brief rundown of some fatal workplace and school shootings across the United States, includes as follows:                Aug. 3, 2010: Warehouse driver Omar Thornton shot and killed eight people before apparently committing suicide at a Manchester, Conn., beer distributorship;        Feb. 12, 2010: Three biology professors were shot and killed and three other employees injured at the University of Alabama's Huntsville campus. Amy Bishop, a 42-year-old instructor and researcher at the school, is charged with murder;        Nov. 5, 2009: At Fort Hood, Tex., 13 people were fatally shot and 32 were injured. Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, 39, is charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder;        Jun. 25, 2008: Wesley N. Higdon, 25, killed five workers, then himself, at Atlantis Plastics in Henderson, Ky. A sixth shooting victim survived;        Mar. 18, 2008: Lee Isaac Bedwell Leeds, 31, shot and killed four men at a junk yard in Santa Maria, Calif.;        Mar. 12, 2008: Robert Lanham killed two people in the Regions Bank of McComb, Miss., where his ex-wife, then forced the woman to flee with him before killing her and committing suicide;        Sep. 23, 2008—Stephen Kazmierczak, 27, opens fire in a crowded lecture hall at Northern Illinois University, killing five students and injuring 18 others before committing suicide;        Apr. 16, 2007—Student Cho Seung-hui, 23, fatally shoots 32 people at Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, then kills himself in the deadliest gun rampage in U.S. history;        Jan. 30, 2006: Former postal worker Jennifer San Marco, 44, shot and killed six postal employees, then herself, in Goleta, Calif.; and        Jul. 2, 2004: Elijah Brown, 21, killed four co-workers and wounded three others at ConAgra Foods meatpacking plant in Kansas City, Kans., before committing suicide.        
There are numerous other reports of school shootings around the world, such as:                Apr. 7, 2011—Wellington Menenzes Oliveira, 24, opens fire inside the Tasso da Silveira school in Realengo near Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, killing 12 people before taking his own life. Oliveira is believed to be a former student;        Nov. 7, 2007—Eighteen-year-old Pekka-Eric Auvinen kills seven fellow students and a teacher at Jokela High School in Tuusula, Finland before shooting himself.        Nov. 20, 2006—Expelled student Sebastian Bosse, 18, kills 14 teachers, two students and a policeman during a gun rampage at his former high school in Emadetten, Germany. He then takes his own life.        
It has been made clearly evident by the shooting at Fort Hood that additional means of self protection has become very necessary. The mass shooting took place on Nov. 5, 2009, at Fort Hood, the most populous U.S. military installation in the world, located just outside Killeen, Tex. In the course of the shooting, a single gunman killed 13 people and wounded 29 others. According to witnesses, Army reserve Captain John Gaffaney attempted to stop Hasan, either by charging him or throwing a chair at him, but was mortally wounded in the process. Civilian physician assistant Michael Cahill also tried to charge Hasan with a chair before being shot and killed. Army reserve Specialist Logan Burnette tried to stop Hasan by throwing a folding table at him, but he was shot in the left hip, fell down, and crawled to a nearby cubicle. There were work tables present which could have provided some protection had they been constructed with bullet resistant materials.
It was additionally made evident at Columbine High School in Colorado in 1999 that similar occurrences may again take place at other locations where civilians, including children are affected, and therefore there is an increased need for self-protection in these places. With the introduction of a ballistic-proof and/or ballistic-resistant furniture, such devices can blend into a conventional room's appearance where people gather such as meeting rooms, classrooms, libraries, cafeterias, governmental chambers, council rooms, school board chambers and can thereby keep from making a room where people gather for social, educational or governmental purposes appear like a military bunker.
Consequently, there exists a need for a method which will give anti-ballistic protection to a wide variety of furniture. It has been found through the endeavors of the inventor and the patent search that there is no method on the market and no apparent patents reviewed that have similar characteristics to the unique methods of creating furniture providing ballistic defense shielding.
Numerous innovations for bullet proof protection have been provided in the prior art that art described as follows. Even though these innovations may be suitable for the specific individual purposes to which they address, they differ from the present invention as hereinafter contrasted. The following is a summary of those prior art patents most relevant to the invention at hand, as well as a description outlining the difference between the features of the present invention and those of the prior art.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,392,686 of Wilfred A. Sankar describes a protective shield, comprising a frame. The frame having a frame top, a frame bottom, frame sides, and frame upper sides between the frame sides and frame top. The shield further having a front panel and a back panel, each made from a bullet-proof plastic fabric such as KEVLAR. The shield has a viewing window, made of a transparent bullet-proof material, such as LEXAN. A shield inner channel is mounted between the front panel and back panel. A first extension is mounted within the shield inner channel that slidably extends from the shield bottom for use, and retracts for storage.
This patent describes a protective shield and it's construction only and does not endeavor to make any reference to using the improved soft armor or hard armor along with the design in the construction of a wide range of furniture.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,625,659 of Henrich Saelzer describes a bullet and explosion-proof security structure such as a window or door for closing an opening in the wall of a building or the like that has two plate-like panels which are enclosed in respective frames so located that the panels extend in parallel to each other and enclose a chamber or space between them. The frames are arranged within a soffit surrounding the opening, whereby the outer frame is spaced from the soffit to form a gap between the frame and the soffit for providing a ventilating channel. In order to prevent projectiles from entering through the ventilation gap from the outside of the building into a room in the building, the frames are covered on their sides facing each other by security members that are made of bullet-proof material, for example, steel. The securing members extend to cover critical areas of the frames and panel edges near the venting gap and overlap, at least partially, each other.
This patent describes a bullet and explosion-proof security structure such as a window or door for closing an opening in the wall of a building and the detailed method of its construction but does not indicate the possibility of using the process for furniture or indicate the unique Furniture Providing Ballistic Defense Shielding of this application with the use of soft armor or hard armor.
None of the previous efforts, however, provides the benefits attendant with the present. The present methods of manufacturing Furniture Providing Ballistic Defense Shielding achieves its intended purposes, objects and advantages over the prior art devices through a new, useful and unobvious combination of method steps and component elements, at a reasonable cost to manufacture, and by employing readily available materials. Additionally, at least for small school or workplace tables, these items may be held in place or moved in place between the shooter and potential target victims.
In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the methods of manufacturing Furniture Providing Ballistic Defense Shielding in detail it is to be understood that the design is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangement, of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The method of manufacturing Furniture Providing Ballistic Defense Shielding is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception, upon which this disclosure is based, may readily be utilized as a basis for designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present design. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent construction insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present application.